BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Polycom, Inc. (NAS: PLCM) , the global leader in open standards-based unified communications and collaboration (UC&C), and the Educational Commission of Beijing's Xicheng District, held an opening ceremony in Beijing last Friday to officially launch a distance learning education program for Beijing's Xicheng District. Themed "Educational Vision Starts Your Journey to the Future," the event highlighted Beijing's first distance learning program for primary education, focused on remote face-to-face learning and international exchanges. Tian Jingsheng, Director of the Educational Commission of Xicheng District, an official of Xicheng District, and Steven Li, General Manager of Greater China at Polycom, presented at the ceremony and jointly witnessed the historic moment.

China has gradually increased its investment in education over the past years, and the sharing of high-quality educational resources is a priority for the next phase of education development. Polycom's video collaboration solutions enable distance learning, allowing the Educational Commission of Beijing Xicheng District to meet this critical educational need. The Phase I Project forthe Educational Commission of Beijing Xicheng District is enabling 260 schools in the district to carry out distance learning education (via HD video conferencing), significantly boosting the integration of educational resources in the district, as well as promoting cross-district, cross-regional and global educational exchanges.

At the ceremony, principals of The Experimental High School Attached To Beijing Normal University, Yuxiang Primary School in Beijing, and officials from the Grampians Education Board, Victoria, Australia, participated in a live face-to-face conversation via Polycom videoconferencing solutions, expressing their strong desire to cooperate in international remote educational exchanges. The event also included a 20-minute video class of mathematics with students at Beijing Fendou Primary School, Huguosi Primary School in Beijing, Shenjiaying Primary School of Yanqing in the suburbs of Beijing, and No.25 Primary School of Haikou City in South China of Hainan Province. This video class demonstrated the benefits of the cross-school, cross-district and cross-provincial educational resources sharing that will be implemented throughout Beijing's Xicheng District.

Tian Jingsheng, Director of the Educational Commission of Xicheng District said: "We will leverage the Internet, Education Metropolitan Area Network (EMAN) and video conferencing systems to carry out research and distance learning in special education, demo classes and pre-school education and teaching, as well as remote cross-institutional, cross-regional and international exchanges and cooperation. The success of this phase of the project will pave a solid foundation for future development of distance learning education systems ofthe Educational Commission of Xicheng District, Beijing, and drive the educational modernization onto a new level."

Steven Li, General Manager of Greater China at Polycom said: "The innovations in video collaboration and distance learning are resulting in an evolution in education, with rich virtual courses that provide new learning opportunities for millions of students in China and beyond. Polycom is focused on delivering video collaboration solutions that bring people face-to-face regardless of location, and will continue to be a driving force for a number of industries, including changing how we learn and improving the education experience for teachers and students."

About Polycom

Polycom is the global leader in open standards-based unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions for voice and video collaboration, trusted by more than 415,000 customers around the world. Polycom solutions are powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform, comprehensive software infrastructure and rich APIs that interoperate with the broadest set of communication, business, mobile and cloud applications and devices to deliver secure face-to-face video collaboration in any environment. Polycom and its ecosystem of over 7,000 partners provide truly unified communications solutions that deliver the best user experience, highest multi-vendor interoperability, and lowest TCO. Visit www.polycom.com or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to learn how we're pushing the greatness of human collaboration forward.